Such centrifuges are widely used in laboratories, particularly in life sciences and related fields. They are used for separation of substance mixtures, for example, suspensions, emulsions or gas mixtures. Besides organic and inorganic substances, for example, microorganisms or cells can be separated from suspensions. The mixtures to be separated are fixed in containers on the rotor and accelerated on a circular path. Due to differing mass inertia, constituents of the mixture having a higher density are separated from constituents having a lower density.
Prior art centrifuges usually have an external housing comprising a centrifuge lid arranged as a hinged lid that can, in most cases, be folded open upwardly. A rotor is arranged in the interior of the housing, in which rotor the mixtures to be separated may be inserted in suitable containers. The rotor can often be closed by a separate rotor cover. On the one hand, the rotor cover prevents mixture substances to be separated from leaking from the rotor and, on the other hand, ensures that the rotor has a surface as smooth as possible on the upper side. Due to the smooth surface, the air friction of the rotor is reduced considerably during operation, as a result of which the centrifuge requires less energy. Especially in case of larger centrifuges, which are used for separation of larger mixture volumes, the power consumption can be reduced by more than half by closing the rotor with a rotor cover. However, such rotor covers are disadvantageous in that they need to be placed on the rotor and removed therefrom manually by an operator. In case of large centrifuges, the cover may weigh between two and three kilograms and in many cases the mounting on and removal from the rotor require an ergonomically unfavorable body posture. Moreover, storage space must be kept available for placing the rotor cover when the rotor is open. For an operator, removing or putting on the rotor cover on the rotor is uncomfortable and time consuming.
The object of the present invention is to eliminate these disadvantages of the prior art. Specifically, it is the object of the present invention to provide a centrifuge of the type described above, which benefits from the advantages that come with the use of a rotor cover and avoids its disadvantages such as uncomfortable or time consuming operation for the user. In other words, the operation of a generic centrifuge is to be simplified and accelerated by the present invention.